Frostbitten Heart
by Elemental Hero Neos
Summary: After Ozai was defeated, everyone went back to their homes and Aang went to fulfill his avatar duties. Now its been 7 years and Aang never returned. Katara's father is holding a tournament to determine who he will give her to, and she's not happy. Kataang
1. The Message Sent Out

_It had been seven years. Seven long years had passed since she had last seen him. Sure, he sent the occasional letter or two, recapping an adventure or reminding her of his feelings for her. But what did that matter? If he truly loved her, then he'd come back and save her from all this. Why wouldn't he come back to her?_

_These ideas and many others were swirling around in Katara's head as she sat in her room, looking over seven years worth of love letters and occasionally gazing out her window, at a beautiful sunset view of her village in the South Pole. She smiled at the view, thinking about how the village had changed, with the help of Master Pakku and the Northern Tribe. It was now an icy metropolis, muck like the Northern Water Tribe's city. But her smile was short lived. It died on her lips as she looked back at the last letter that Aang had sent her, from almost a year and a half ago._

_As usual it told of how much he still loved her and that he wanted to see her more than anything. The part that worried her, however, was towards the end, where it mentioned a dangerous undercover mission into the heart of the Phoenix Fighter's headquarters, a rogue group of fire benders that had been trying to restore "Phoenix King" Ozai to power. She had heard awhile ago that they had been defeated, but heard nothing from Aang. She was suddenly pulled away from her thoughts by loud knock at the door._

"_Come in!" she called. Hakoda, Katara's father, entered her room with a pained look on his face. She looked at him with concern, "What's wrong dad?" He sighed, sat next to her, and explained, "Katara, I'm worried about you. I know you miss Aang, but its been seven years now." His heart broke as he saw her expression as she began to understand what he was saying. "Honey, you're twenty one now, and its about time you were married." "But!" she started. "No buts!" he countered, "You're going to be married. I want only the strongest man protecting my daughter from now on, so in five days, we'll be holding a tournament. The winner will have your hand. I'm sorry Katara, but its for your own good." With that being said, he quickly exited the room, his heart breaking even more at the sound of her crying into her pillow._

_Later that same day, an entire flock of messenger hawks were sent out to every corner of the world, announcing the tournament for Lady Katara's hand in marriage. The next day, countless ships could be seen clogging up the water ways, all heading for the South Pole._

_**Hello happy peoples! This is actually my second story, though it'll be the first one I'll finish. For those of you who've seen my other story, don't worry! I will finish it!…. After this one! Hope you guys like this one. Comment if you would, even if they're flames (flamers will burn!) **__**J**_


	2. Registration

After four days, the South Pole was more crowded than it had ever been. Even with all the expansion and remodeling since the Northern tribe helped them, there was barely any room left in the entire city. "Stupid tourists, always crowding the streets. Can't get anywhere anymore!" Sokka grumbled. He was trying to get to his and Suki's house, especially with the huge bag of penguin-seal jerky he was carrying. After what seemed like an eternity of pushing and shoving through the crowded streets, he finally made it to his front door. Entering, he set his cargo down on the kitchen table and walked up the stairs to their second floor bedroom.

"Hey Suki, whatcha doin?" Sokka asked her as he walked into the bedroom. Suki was sitting by an open window, looking out at the crowds of people swarming around the village. She looked back at Sokka with a grimace and told him, "Sokka, I'm worried about Katara. With all these people here, who knows what kind of sleaze ball could win the tournament?" With a knowing sigh, he walked over and wrapped his arms around his wife and kissed her lightly on the cheek. "Don't worry about Katara, she's strong. No matter who wins the tournament, she won't let anyone push her around." She sighed and leaned back into his embrace. "I hope you're right. For her sake."

The next day, it started. Hundreds of warriors of every shape and size gathered at the coliseum, which had taken twenty water benders three days to construct out of ice. However, all this effort was wasted on Sokka as he grumbled behind the registration desk. He hated having to check in all the fighters, especially knowing that one of them would take his beloved sister as his prize. Overall, he wasn't too worried about any of these men. He knew that Katara could bend any of these guys to her will, easily. There were, however, four strangers that worried him deeply and he prayed that none of them would win.

The first man signed his name as Inukami. He was a big guy with dark, cropped hair; black eyes that were too close together; and he had the pelt of a large, white, saber toothed wolf tiger draped over his shoulders. He gave Sokka the impression of someone who could rip out your throat and eat it for breakfast. Definitely not the kind of guy for HIS sister!

The second guy signed himself in as Ice Ringer, and he definitely wasn't Katara's type. He had spiked up, white hair; cold, blue eyes; and piercings on his eyebrows and nose. He wore white kimono that was obviously two sizes too large for him, _**probably to hide some weapons in**_, Sokka thought. He was as skinny as a pole and looked like he was whacked out on something illegal. Sokka definitely wouldn't allow this guy to even look in Katara's direction, win or lose!

The third couldn't actually sign his name in, since he couldn't read or write. He said his name was Keg, and he was obviously from the Earth Kingdom. He was an enormous giant, easily seven feet tall. He wore nothing but his leggings and belt, and he smelled like he hadn't bathed in years. The only hair on his head was the brown nose hair growing wildly, the top of his head being shiny bald. One look at this guy and Sokka began to think how sorry he would feel for his sister if she, or ANY woman in fact, had to marry this disgusting oaf.

Finally, there was the fourth guy. Sokka wasn't sure how this guy was able to sign in, seeing as this guy couldn't see! Jin, as he signed it, wore a heavy, black cloth over his eyes that guaranteed that he couldn't see, blind or otherwise. It was tied in the back around his jet black hair that fell all the way down, just past his shoulder blades. He also wore a strange black robe, complete with black, fingerless gloves. His outfit made him look like some sort of assassin, in Sokka's opinion, and the fact that he was easily six inches taller than Sokka didn't help either. He was definitely going to keep an eye on this guy.

When all the contestants had finally signed in, they were ushered into the fighting arena to receive instructions on how things would work. Chief Hakoda stood on a large ice block, dressed up in his full chieftain's armor. He looked out over the crowd of warriors and began his speech. "Men! Thank you all for coming here to compete! I know you all have come here form many different parts of the world, and though you are all different, you have all come here for the same purpose. To compete for the hand of my daughter, Lady Katara!" The gathered men cheered as Katara herself walked up next to her father continued with his speech. "Today and tomorrow, you shall fight each other until one of you gives up or is no longer able to fight. Today, we will have the preliminary rounds, to determine which eight of you will do battle in the final tournament. You will compete in one of four block tournaments, with the top two going on to the final tournament tomorrow! I wish you all good luck, so let the games begin!"

**Hello again! Thanx for the awesome comments! Futureairbender18, You is one of my new favorite peoples! That goes for Kataangluver and Nicooliosis too! The stage is set! Prepare for some epicness in the next chapter! Oh, and for you Kingdom Hearts fans, you'll know what I mean when I say that Jin looks like Riku from KH2, only with black hair. Viva Kataang!**


	3. Preliminaries

"Let the games begin!" Hakoda called out. Then he nodded to the water bender officials who immediately bended four mini arenas of ice up from the ground. The contestants were then gathered into their respective blocks and the preliminaries began. Sokka, having completed his registration duties, had just been assigned to managing the preliminaries. He walked back and forth, from arena to arena, making sure no one was trying to pull any dirty tricks. _**Everything's running smoothly**_, Sokka thought, _**especially since those four guys are all in different blocks. I hope they'll lose quickly so I won't have to worry anymore. **_

Katara was miserable. Ever since her father had explained his plan to her, she'd been living with the dread that she'd be married off to some jerk that she'd never love. She cried for three days, even though Toph had come to stay with her, she cried until she didn't have any tears left to cry. Toph tried to comfort her friend with every kind word she could think of, but it didn't come easily to the tough earth bender, and her words had little to no effect. Finally, Katara had stopped crying, and had resigned herself to her fate. She had been helping oversee the tournament and now sat with Toph in the stands, watching the preliminary fights, wondering which men among them would make it to the finals.

They watched as, one by one, opponents were defeated, all while checking their names of the registry list. After a few hours, the numbers were finally starting to dwindle. They were down to the final matches in each block, which gave the girls a decent idea of who would be competing in the finals. "So who do you think will make it Toph?" Katara asked. Toph tapped her foot on the ground, feeling the continuous vibrations, scouting out the remaining fighters. "Well," she started, "I can tell that the Keg guy is going to make it for sure. His opponent is about to wet himself. Same goes for that inu-dude's opponent. That Ice guy already won his match I think, so did those other guys." Katara checked the list to confirm Toph's assessment and saw that she was right; however, she forgot someone. "What about the last two guys, Toph? You didn't say anything about who will win between these guys: Jin and Sun?"

Toph grimaced when Katara mentioned their names, a fact that she noticed instantly. "Toph, what's wrong?" Toph took a deep breath and then cracked the ice beneath her with a stomp. "I don't know what to tell you Katara. I can tell that Sun is definitely a strong opponent, I would probably place my money on him to win, if not for this Jin guy." Katara, thoroughly confused, asked her, "Why? What's so special about that Jin?" Then she noticed a look on Toph's face that no one had ever seen her use before: fear. Toph looked at her with fearful eyes and told her, "I don't know!"

Katara looked back at her in disbelief, "What do you mean you don't know? Can't you tell anything from his vibrations?" Toph got even more agitated and told her again, "I don't know! I can't feel any vibrations from him at all!" Katara looked, wide eyed, back at the fight. She looked at Jin, as he just stood there, casually dodging everything that Sun threw at him. "What do you mean Toph?" Toph explained, "I mean, he has no vibrations! Not even the ground around him has any vibrations! I try to feel around for him and its like there's a five foot radius around him of nothingness!"

The two were snapped out of their intense conversation by a loud, feminine scream. They looked around, well Katara looked while Toph 'felt', for a woman in danger, but what they saw struck fear into their hearts. The effeminate screams continued to echo throughout the arena, but they weren't coming from any damsel in distress. The unmanly screaming was coming from Sun, who was down on his knees before Jin. They couldn't tell what was happening what was happening until they saw that Jin was holding Sun by his forearm with an iron grip. No bones were being broken, yet everyone who witnessed the scene were horrified nonetheless.

Where Jin held Sun's forearm, a deathly blackness was creepy from his fingertips. It spread across Sun's arm, turning his arm black, and causing him to scream louder. When his arm, from the hand to the elbow, was entirely blackened, Jin let him go. Sun dropped to the ground with a thud, and just lay there crying and cradling his afflicted arm. Jin turned to the official and said in a raspy, whisper-like voice, "Call the match sir. He won't be fighting for a while now." The official, scared out of his mind, called the match in Jin's favor and then hid behind the mini arena while Jin descended and walked back into the fighter's locker room.

Katara and Toph were shocked, to say the least. Toph was tapping her foot again, trying to get some kind of read on this terrifying man, but to no avail. Katara, visibly shaking, looked down at the list in her hand and weakly crossed out Sun's name. She looked up to see the medics carrying him away for emergency treatment. She then looked over at Toph and saw that she too was shaking like a leaf. Neither one of them could stop shaking until they were sure that Jin had gone inside. As they watched him disappear into the shadows of the coliseum, Katara thought to herself, _**Oh PLEASE don't let this guy win!**_

**Hey Again! I hope you won't be disappointed in your expectations of awesomeness! I tried to add some epicness (if that's even a word) and I hope that I haven't failed you. Also, I'm now realizing how incredibly short my chapters are, so I'm going to work on that :P Next chapter coming soon and hopefully even better than the last. Thanx to everyone who commented! You guys rock! Oh, and before I forget, I have one thing to say to you, FutureAirbender18 : DEAL!**


	4. Hospital Visit

Soon after Sun had been carted off to the infirmary, the officials began to clean up the arena. They cleared away the debris, mopped up any splattered blood, and bended the mini arenas back into the floor. In ten minutes, no one could tell that there had ever been a fight in the arena. Then, the officials bended Hakoda's ice block podium back up and the water tribe chief took his place once again to address the semifinalists.

"Warriors! Congratulations! You have proven yourselves to be the best of the finest fighters the world has to offer! Take the rest of today to rest yourselves; for tomorrow, you all will fight for the ultimate prize, my daughter!" With a wave of his hand, he gestured towards Katara sitting in the stands, as she countered with a deathly glare. She obviously despised every last one of these men for viewing her as a prize, a fact that was lost on the excited warriors who cheered and clapped for her. Hakoda forced a smile for her and turned back to the seven fighters before him, "Well then men, while you all take it easy, we will randomly select the match-ups for tomorrow's fights. You will each be notified tonight of your opponent. Until then my friends!"

With that, they were all dismissed, each returning to their own rooms. While they were still leaving, Hakoda pulled his son aside, "Sokka, that man Jin never came out to hear the announcement. Please, go back to the locker rooms and tell him for me." Sokka reluctantly agreed, with plenty of whines and complaints of course, and set off to find him. Hakoda watched him go and when he was certain that Sokka was actually going to do it, he went to talk to his beloved daughter.

He found her sitting in the stands with Toph, so he called out to her, "Katara!" Without even glancing at him, she pulled Toph up with her and started to walk away. "Wait!" he called again. He caught her by the arm and turned her around, "Come on Katara, you have to talk to me sometime." She glared at him, as Toph sneaked away from this father-daughter moment, and yelled, "Well if you want to talk, why don't we start with the reason you're putting me through all this! Send these guys home, please!" He could see the tears in her eyes and could feel his heart breaking for her all over again. "I'm sorry sweetheart, I know this is hard on you, but eventually you'll see that this is all for the best." Tears were flowing freely down her face now. "No, I'll never see it that way. Aang is the one that I should be with, not these muscle-headed idiots!" As she broke down sobbing, Hakoda pulled her into his arms, "It's going to be okay Katara. I know this is hard, and I would gladly give you to Aang if he were here. If he just walked in anytime during the finals, I would cancel everything for you two. But until then, you're going to have to trust me." Hugging her even tighter, he held her for another fifteen minutes or so, long enough for her to vent her feelings to him.

Meanwhile, Sokka was still griping about his job as he looked around for Jin. He walked up and down the halls and locker rooms, wondering why they put so many corridors in a coliseum that they'd probably never use again. He was suddenly pulled out of his ponderings when he bumped into someone and fell on his butt. He looked up, ready to tear whoever it was a new one, and found himself looking up into the ice cold face of the guy he had been looking for. "Jin! I've been looking everywhere for you, mister!" He pulled himself up and got up in Jin's face. "Why did you leave before hearing the rest of the instructions? I have half a mind not to tell you anything at all!"

As soon as the words left his lips, he found himself hoisted up a good foot or two in the air. Jin held him there with one hand, not even looking up at him. "Just tell me Sokka, I don't have time for your stupidity." Completely freaked out, Sokka quickly explained everything he needed to know about the tournament finals. "Thank you" he said, and gently set Sokka back on his feet. Then he turned his head towards the person hiding behind the corner, "If you are going to try to follow me, Toph Bei Fong, I suggest you do a better job of concealing yourself next time." Toph stepped out from behind the corner blushing, slightly from embarrassment but mostly from anger. She had been following him for only a short time, following the strange lack of vibrations, and she was sure that she had been careful not to be noticed.

"Well, I suppose I'll be seeing you both around then, good night then." And with that, Jin walked off down the corridor, leaving an intimidated warrior and an angry earth bender behind him. When they were sure that he was gone, they both looked at each other for a moment before Sokka asked her, "How did he know our names?" Toph just shrugged. Sokka thought for a moment before asking her, "Would you mind coming with me for a minute? I'd like to check on that guy in the infirmary, just to see what it is that Jin did to him." She quickly agreed and they both set off for the coliseum infirmary wing.

They soon reached the infirmary. Walking in, Sokka looked around until he found the head nurse and asked, "Ma'am? We're here to check on the man that was brought in here recently, I think his name was Sun?" She tried to force a smile, a grim on though, and said only, "Follow me please." With that said, she led them towards the back of the infirmary, to a closed off section surrounded with a green curtain, with the words **Critical Care** written on it. Pulling back the curtain she led them to a bed, not five feet from the entrance. "Here he is sir." Then she took a step back to let them see him. Sokka stepped up to the bed, while Toph opted to just tap her foot for a better vibration image. Sokka examined him closely and found that his condition had remained unchanged. His arm was still completely black from the elbow down, and he seemed to be suffering from constant pain. Sokka had no idea what this could be. He gingerly put his hand on Sun's blackened arm and jumped back in alarm. He turned back to the head nurse, "Nurse! What is this? What did that guy DO to him?" She sighed, shook her head, and explained his condition.

**Cliffhanger! Sort of… You didn't think I'd give up the secret that easily did you? You must wait until the next chapter to find out! Mwahahahaha! Oh, and sorry it took me longer than usual to finish this chapter. I already had the first two done, so I only had to write the third. Plus, I'm easily distracted ****J Thanx for the comments everyone! I promise to write on, even when the shiny things distract me!**


	5. After Hours Visit

Sokka was running through the corridors, Toph right behind him. They had to get to Hakoda and Katara, to warn them before it was too late. Sokka, still reeling from the news, was replaying what he had just seen and heard in his head. It still gave him chills when he thought about it. 

_Sokka gingerly put his hand on Sun's blackened arm and jumped back in alarm. He turned back to the head nurse, "Nurse! What is this? What did that guy DO to him?" She sighed, shook her head. "Young man, this is, without a doubt, the worst case of frostbite I have ever seen in all my years as a healer. Every molecule of water in this young man's arm has been frozen solid. He'll sleep tonight, but tomorrow, we'll have no choice but to amputate his arm." They stood there, shocked, until they were suddenly snapped out of it by a slight noise behind them. Turning around quickly, they were just in time to see the end of a black cloak disappear around the corner._

They were still running, almost out of the hallways. They finally made it out to the open arena, just as Hakoda and Katara were walking the other way. "Dad! DAD! We have a situation!" Sokka called. Hakoda stopped, along with Katara, and waited for him to catch up. When he finally did, they quickly explained what had happened and what the nurse had said. "We need to set up 'round the clock security for Sun. That Jin guy has it out for him, and he'll probably come back to finish him off!" said Sokka. Hakoda thought about it for a minute before replying, "Okay, Sokka. But I'm already asking too much of the officials as it is, so you are going to have to do it. I'll leave you in charge of it Sokka, decide who will do what when. Now, I need to speak with some earth kingdom nobles who, apparently, aren't satisfied with the location of their seats." With that said, he left the three to sort out security among themselves.

"Okay," Sokka began, "We're going to have to take turns guarding him tonight. Everything officially shuts down at 9pm, so Toph, you'll guard him from 9pm to midnight. Katara, you can take the midnight to 4am shift. That leaves the 4am to 8am shift for me. Sound good?" Katara glared at him, "You set that up just so you could sleep through most of the night. You're usually up at 6am anyway, so you only lose 2 hours of sleep!" "Too bad," he snapped back, "You heard dad, I'm in charge, so I make the shift orders! Alright then, you have your assignments, DISMISSED!" With that said, he marched off back into the corridors, cutting through them to get home to Suki faster. "Ooohhh that Sokka!" Katara raged, "One of these days, I'M going to be in charge of HIM. Then we'll see who makes the shift orders!" Laying her hand on her angry friend's shoulder, a grinning Toph steered Katara towards the next corridor saying, "Don't worry Katara, he'll get his someday. Meanwhile, it's almost time for my shift. Want to walk with me to my post?" With a sigh, she agreed.

Toph was getting tired of pacing up and down the length of the infirmary, but at least her shift would be over soon. She could see the wall clock, obviously, but she was sure that there couldn't be more than ten minutes or so left until Katara came to relieve her. "_**Maybe I'll stay with Katara during her shift**_." She thought to herself, "_**No point in both of us having a lonely shift**_." Five more minutes to go. Funny thing really; she never had to ask anyone what time it was. She always seemed to know almost exactly what time it was. "Just another reason I'm the most awesome earth bender ever." She grinned. Then her grin vanished. It was quiet. Too quiet. _**I should be feeling more vibrations than this**_, she thought. She stomped her foot again to get a better reading. Then realization hit her. "Holy crap! Ji-" Then something else hit her. Hard.

"_**I guess there's no way around this**_," Katara thought to herself, "_**I better just suck it up and wait this stupid shift out. I doubt Jin would be stupid enough anyway to ACTUALLY try to pull something**_." Lost in her thoughts, she continued walking down the hallway, turning the corner that led to the infirmary. She stopped dead when she saw the lights coming from the room ahead. Soft blue light filtered out through the doorway, illuminating most of the corridor. Something was obviously wrong. Quickly, she ran to the edge of the doorway and pressed her back to the icy wall. Skirting around the edge, she silently slipped into the room and nearly screamed when her hand brushed against what felt like a human leg!

She snapped her head around to see Toph, illuminated by the blue light, frozen to the wall next to her. She was unconscious. She silently liquefied the water around the poor girl and gently set her down on the floor. As she set her down, however, the blue light disappeared behind her. With her heart beating like a drum, Katara silently cursed at Toph for not thinking to light a torch or something, since now it was pitch black. _**Of course, Toph doesn't need any light source, but she still could've had one ready for me. **_She was suddenly pulled out of her thoughts, and literally pulled backwards, by an icy cold hand. She attempted to retaliate, but was easily overpowered by her mysterious assailant, who held her by her wrists, about an inch off the ground. But her assailant wasn't so mysterious to her. "Jin! Put me down now! I'm warning you! Not only will you be disqualified and arrested for murdering Sun, but my father will personally drive his sword through your heart if you lay so much as a finger on my body!" Silence.

Well, she thought it was silent. Then she heard his chuckling, barely louder than a whisper. "Is that what you think of me, Princess?" His soft, raspy voice was right in her ear. "You honestly think that I would do anything to cause harm to you? I'm in this tournament to win your heart. It wouldn't benefit me in the least to do anything to you. And I doubt I'll be disqualified OR arrested for what I've done to our friend Sun, so threaten all you want. Actually, why don't you just go to sleep for now. It would make things a bit easier for the time being." She listened to his words, grinding her teeth in hatred of every word that came from his mouth, though she couldn't see it. Suddenly, she felt herself slowing down, becoming drowsy. She felt her eyelids becoming very heavy, and the last thing she remembered was the feeling of Jin's lips upon her forehead. A sensation that she felt was… familiar somehow. And then she was asleep.

_Katara…. _She grunted in her sleep. _Katara….. _This time she rolled over. "KATARA!" Sokka screamed in her ear. That one woke her up! She sat straight up, on a cot, in a daze, feeling something hard hit her hand. "Ouch Katara! What was that for!" She looked to her left to see Sokka, Hakoda, and three officials standing there; Sokka with a look of pain on his face and the others with surprise on their faces. Finally Sokka spoke again, "Katara! What were you doing sleeping on the job like that! Jin could've just waltzed in here at any time, while you took your beauty nap, and killed Sun in cold blood!" Confusion etched across her face, she raised a hand to her forehead and tried to remember what happened the previous night.

"Oh my gosh! Toph, where's Toph?" Katara gasped, memories coming back to her. "Toph?" Sokka responded, "Toph's sleeping on the cot next to you! You guys probably decided to have a slumber party or something!" Turning to her right, Katara made sure that Toph was alright. She was, but she was an even more stubborn sleeper than Katara was, so she let her rest. Then she turned to Sokka with anger in her eyes, "Well where were YOU, mister? The clock says 6:30am! Where were YOU for YOUR shift, hm? Why weren't you here to help?" It was Sokka's turn to be confused, and slightly embarrassed, "Sorry about that. I overslept this morning. But what help would you need? Sleeping help?" Katara glared at him furiously, "For your information, I wasn't taking a nap! Jin was here and he knocked both of us out! I got here right after he was done with Sun! Oh my gosh, SUN!"

Meanwhile, since the siblings were arguing, Hakoda and the officials went ahead to check on Sun's condition and to determine if this Jin deserved disqualification, or worse. What they saw astounded them. When Katara and Sokka rushed back the Sun's bedside, they were also astounded. It was completely gone! His arm was there, completely intact, but the frostbitten blackness was gone! His arm was a rosy pink, in fact! This didn't make any sense. "What's going on?" Sokka almost yelled. Katara thought for a moment before answering, "If that weird blue light from last night wasn't Jin finishing him off, then it must have been Jin healing him!" Everyone looked at her puzzled, until she explained everything that had happened the previous night, well almost everything. She kept the kiss-thing to herself, deciding not to incur any unneeded anger from her family.

Then one of the officials spoke up, "Well Hakoda, it seems this Jin fellow is on the level. He was even kind enough to fix this young man's arm for him." Hakoda turned to him, "I agree. We won't disqualify him, but I will have a talk to him about his personal space issues concerning my daughter." "Agreed." the three officials voiced in unison. Then they left the room, returning to their more pressing duties. But there still remained a problem, at least, in Katara's mind. "But dad, how did he do it? Our tribe's best healers couldn't do a thing for him, and then Jin just sneaks in and fixes him up without a problem? Something doesn't seem right." Hakoda simply laid his hand on her shoulder and said, "Well Katara, I guess since it WAS his technique that did it to Sun, then he must have had another technique or antidote to undo it as well. Lets not dwell on it too much. Now c'mon, let's go get some breakfast. We have another long day ahead of us." With a nod, she followed her father and brother back towards the entrance. They all stopped however, when Toph groggily sat up on her cot. "So…. Did I miss anything?"

**I am SSSSOOOO sorry! My computer rebooted and deleted my chapter, so I had to redo it from scratch. But that's no excuse. I had no idea how easy it is to become a lazy bum. But no longer! I swear I will not fall behind ever again! Or my name isn't Carmen Elizabeth Juanita Echo Sky Brava Cortez! And its not…. Sorry again ****L**


	6. Semifinals 1

After a good breakfast, and a few more hours of natural sleep, everybody was up and running, just in time for the first match to start. The contestants had been officially matched up, in a totally random selection process, and the pairings were officially announced an hour before the first match was to start. The first match would be between Jin and a fire bender named Ping. The next would be Keg versus the water bender Panwha; followed by Ice Ringer versus another fire bender, Lee; and finally, the match between Inukami and an earth bender, The Boulder.

When these match ups were announced; Sokka, Katara, and Toph jumped at the last name announced. "The BOULDER!" Sokka almost screamed, "What is THAT guy doing here?" With a grin Toph teased him, "Well obviously, Sugar-Queen here left a VERY good impression on our old boulder buddy." Toph openly smiled with satisfaction as Katara glared and blushed, while Sokka fumed and tried not to throw his boomerang at the over-muscled Boulder.

"The Boulder is very excited about his upcoming match!" The sudden voice from behind made the three of them jump. They turned, just in time to receive a bone crushing hug head on. "The Boulder is happy to see his old comrades!" After wriggling out of his iron grip, Sokka checked himself for broken ribs, found none, and proceeded to yell at The Boulder. "What are you doing here? Why would you enter this tournament?"

Looking thoughtful for a moment, he responded, "Well, The Boulder thought there might be some strong opponents here. However, The Boulder does have his own personal reasons for being here too." With that, The Boulder walked off towards the waiting area while the girls held Sokka back from swinging his sword at him.

Not long after, the first round of the semi finals began, after a word from Hakoda and the officials about fair play. The contestants were called to the arena and the match officially began. Jin just stood there, across from Ping, without moving a muscle. Ping, however, was hopping from foot to foot, clearly pumped for the fight. He shouted to Jin, "Let's go buddy! Show me that fancy frostbite thing you did to Sun! I'm ready for you!" Even though Ping was obviously trying to get him pumped too, Jin just stood there, motionless. Enraged by Jin's impassive response, Ping yelled out, "Fine! If you wont make your move, then I will!"

With that said, he charged at Jin head on, a red hot fire engulfing his fist. Closing the distance quickly, he swung his flaming fist straight at Jin's face, which passed right through his head. He realized a moment too late, when the afterimage dissipated, that Jin was behind him. Without a word, Jin gripped Ping by the back of his neck. The crowd gasped as Ping fell limp and slumped to the ground.

Sokka, Katara, and Toph sat silently, watching/feeling as an official checked Ping for signs of life. When he gave the thumbs up, the crowd erupted in applause and Jin was announced the winner of the first match. As the audience roared around them, the three friends sat in silence, each mulling over the ease of Jin's victory and what a frightening person was. Katara was the first to break the silence, "Sokka, what do I do if Jin wins? I don't want to marry some crazy guy that drops people with a single touch." Sokka put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry Katara. I won't let that guy have you, no matter what."

**Hi everyone. Hopefully there are still some people who didn't get fed up with me and still want to read this. I've actually had this chapter on my computer for awhile now, intending to make it a longer chapter, but I decided to post it as its own chapter and make the next one longer. Sorry for the delay everyone. And a special thanks to the Stafflord, for kicking my butt into gear! I swear, I will not rest until this story is complete! In fact, I will not go to bed this evening until I have written at least 2 more chapters!**


	7. Semifinals 2

The crowd sat in silence as the paramedics carried Ping off the field, to the infirmary. The silence was immediately broken, however, as the next match was announced. The crowd roared as Panwha stepped out onto the field. _**"He kinda looks like Haru," **_Katara thought to herself, _**"Except Haru has facial hair now." **_

As Panwha took his place on the field, the crowd roared again, welcoming Keg to the field. Panwha quickly prepared himself, taking a defensive stance against his opponent. Keg, on the other hand, showed no concern for his opponent; instead, he was busy picking a pebble out of his bellybutton. The audience were on the edge of their seats, waiting for the official to begin the match. They held their breaths as the official raised a flag, and roared into a frenzy as he waved it, signaling the start of the fight.

However, the audience's enthusiasm quickly died down. They stared at the battle field, watching as no actual battle was going on. Panwha was still in his stance, tensely waiting for the smelly giant to make a move, all while Keg was too preoccupied with his pebble. Ten minutes passed by before anybody made a sound. "Start the fight already!" someone in the audience shouted. Keg turned his head see who had yelled, and that is when Panwha made his move.

Rushing forward at blinding speed, the swift water bender brought up a large ball of ice, from the floor, and hurled it at Keg. The ice ball hit him right in the gut, though it didn't even faze him. Keg turned to look at Panwha, a look of annoyance on his face. With a loud grunt, Keg threw his precious pebble straight down, creating a ten foot wide hole! Unfortunately for Panwha, his running speed plus the massive tremor from Keg's pebble threw him off balance and sent him sliding on his stomach, straight towards the waiting Keg. With another loud grunt, Keg pulled back his giant meaty foot and right as Panwha slid up to him, he kicked him right in the face.

Sokka, Katara, and Toph cringed as they heard the sound of crunching bones and saw Panwha fly out of the ring. They continued to watch in disbelief as the official checked the water bender and declared Keg to be the victor. The crowd erupted in applause, cheering for the oblivious hulk, who was too busy looking for his pebble to notice his fans. Eventually, the official convinced him to go back to the waiting room, with the promise to keep an eye out for the precious pebble. And with that, the ring was cleared, and the official announced that the next two matches would be postponed until the next day, to give them time to repair the devastated field.

An hour later, after all the fans had cleared out and the field repairs had begun; Sokka, Katara, and Toph gathered outside the arena. Katara was the first to speak, "This is crazy! There is no way I can marry any of these guys! They're all monsters!" "Don't worry" Sokka assured her, "I'm gonna think of a way to get you out of this mess. There's no way MY sister is going to marry some freaky strong weirdos!" "Actually" Toph chimed in, "We don't know anything about the guys in the next two matches. They could be perfectly normal." That set Sokka off, "NORMAL? Are you kidding me? The next two water bender guys are monsters! Did you see their preliminary matches? Not to mention the Boulder! Though he's not normal in a different way…" Sokka stopped talking, after finally running out of breath. This gave Katara the chance to finally be the voice of reason, "Calm down Sokka. I think we're all a little tired from all the excitement. Why don't we all go home and get some rest. We still need to think of a way to end all this." And with that, they said their goodnights and split up to go home, Sokka to his house and Toph with Katara to her house.

When the girls got to Katara's house, they quickly got ready for bed. With a quick goodnight, Katara left Toph in her room and went to her own. Soon, the silence of night swept over the house; silence that is, except for Toph's thunderous snoring. With Toph shaking both their rooms, Katara found that sleep was not going to come easily. She sat up in bed and looked out her window, hoping that the starry sky and the cool night air would relax her. It was almost working, until the loud explosion outside shattered any sense of relaxation she had.

Getting dressed as fast as she could, she rushed to the window and looked out over the city. There, about five rooftops away, she could see two figures, silhouetted against the full moon, staring each other down. Creating a frozen bridge across the rooftops, she ran as fast as she could towards the rooftop battle field. However, by the time she got there, only one of the figures was left standing there. The other was nowhere to be seen. She took an offensive stance and called out to the figure. "Stop right there! Turn around so I can see you! No sudden movements!" She tensed as the he turned to face her. She almost wasn't surprised to see Jin's face illuminated in the moonlight. What did surprise her was the lifeless body lying next to him and the blood that stained his cloak.

**MWAHAHAHA! Epic cliffhanger! I've already got the next chapter and a half completed, so look forward to them soon! However, I'm not gonna release the next chapter for another day or two. That gives me time to do any revisions I need to and lets the peoples have a chance to let this chapter sink in. enjoy!**


	8. Epic Battle and an Anticlimax

Katara couldn't believe what she was seeing. Jin stood there, impassive, above a dead body while the moonlight brought out the bloodstains on his cloak. She had wondered about Jin after he had seemingly healed Sun, but any doubts she had about him now were gone. She knew he was evil. With the full moon glowing in her eyes, she quickly bended the ice around her into the octopus stance and lunged out at him. One of her tentacles shot out at his chest, though he simply jumped backward to dodge it. Another tentacle shot out, this one going for his legs. Again, he simply dodged backwards, avoiding her move completely. However, now he was on the edge of the roof, with nowhere to jump back to. Two tentacles shot out this time, one wrapping around his left arm and the other, around his waist. She lifted him high in the air and held him there. Then she asked, "Why! Why did you kill this man? Who is he?"

With a smirk, Jin answered her, "Don't you recognize him? Don't you remember his face? If not, shouldn't you at least remember his hair?" She turned to look at the bloody body, and scrutinized its appearance for a moment. White spiky hair, a white (now red) kimono, and a long dagger protruding from him oversized sleeve. It took her a moment, but she finally realized it was Ice Ringer, the man who was supposed to fight his match the following morning.

Angrily, she turned back to look at the captive Jin and yelled, "Why? Were you trying to get rid of your competition? Didn't want to risk having to face him? You coward!"

Suddenly, Jin's whole demeanor changed. His smirk turned to a scowl and with a wave of his hand, he froze his bindings, smashed them, and dropped to the roof. Before Katara even had time to react, he had dashed across the rooftop at blinding speed and had pinned her down, hard.

"A coward?" He growled in her ear, "I may be many things, but I am no coward. A coward doesn't try to defend a fellow competitor from a deadly assassin. A coward doesn't kill the assassin in cold blood. And, lucky for you, a coward doesn't injure a lady, even one that attacks him. So listen up, next time you want to play hero and avenge a man you don't even know, make sure you know who actually killed him first."

With that said, Jin released Katara from his hold, though he did ice her feet to the ground. By the time Katara de-iced herself, Jin was gone, and Katara felt more confused than ever. Picking herself up, she walked over to Ice Ringer's corpse to see if there was any chance he could be saved. She instantly realized that he was long dead though, when she saw the fist sized hole where his heart used to be. However, she was even more shocked by what she saw next. About six feet away from the body was a hole that she hadn't noticed before. She guessed that hole was from the explosion she heard before, so she went to check it out. Looking into the hole, however, she saw that it was a hole blown out from the room below, which was apparently Lee's(Ice Ringer's next opponent's) room, since he was on the floor dead. She could tell he had bled out from his slit throat, which seemed to be the right length to have come from Ice Ringer's dagger. Now she was more confused than ever.

_**There's no time, I have to wake up dad and tell him what's happened. **_

As she ran off to alert her father, she didn't see the menacing figure watching her from a distant rooftop. Having seen the whole event, he chuckled to himself, while licking the blood from his hands.

Sunlight peaked over the bloodied rooftop as cleaning crews continued to clean up the mess from the previous night's events. Ice Ringer's body had been taken and cleaned up, ready for preservation and burial. Hakota oversaw the cleanup efforts and even led a small search party (Katara, Sokka, and Toph) to find and question Jin on his actions. Unfortunately, Jin was nowhere to be found. Since this took up most of the morning, they eventually had to give up and head on over to the tournament for the last of the semi final matches.

The crowd was getting agitated. They had booed when an official had announced the sudden cancellation of the third match, and now they were becoming restless as they awaited the final match of the semi final rounds. Sokka looked around him with an obvious frown on his face. He did not like how the crowd was reacting.

"This isn't good. We may have to contain a riot if we don't hurry this along." He turned to Katara, "Why can't you just pick someone to marry and get this all over with! I'm getting tired of all this drama!" He instantly shrank in his seat at the intense glare she unleashed upon him.

"You're a jerk, do you know that?" She growled at him, "It's a wonder that Suki can even stand you!" With a firm 'humph!' she turned back to stare at the field below. However, she had to admit to herself, she was also tired of all the drama. She just wanted her father to cancel the whole tournament and let her go look for Aang. She thought about these things for a few minutes, but was snapped back to reality by the sight of The Boulder stepping out onto the field.

The three friends watched as The Boulder stepped out onto the field and turned to the crowd. After a deep bow, The Boulder gazed out over the crowd and announced as loud as he could, "I officially withdraw myself from the competition!" As soon as these words escaped his lips, the crowd erupted in anger. Officials began pouring out onto the field, ready for the impending riot.

"STOP THE MADNESS!" Everyone cringed and covered their ears at the sheer decibel level of The Boulder's command. "Keep it down, all of you!" He continued, "The Boulder is going to quit because The Boulder wants to quit! The Boulder realizes that the beautiful Princess Katara is a bit too young for his tastes. Besides, there are far more amazing battles to come. You can count on it." With these final words, The Boulder bowed again and calmly walked off the field.

Katara stood as The Boulder finished his speech and stared in disbelief as he walked towards the exit. What she saw next, however, made her blood run cold. Standing in the shadows of the exit, out of view to most of the crowd, Jin was waiting for The Boulder patiently. She was about to scream for The Boulder to watch out for him, but her cry was caught up in her throat when she saw how The Boulder reacted to him. Hanging his head sadly, he simply walked up to him and let Jin lay a comforting hand on his shoulder. She stood frozen in place as she watched the two walk into the dark corridors together. Now, she was more confused than ever.

**Okay, I'm running an unofficial poll. I need your, the readers', opinion on a matter concerning this story. You see, while trying to write out my vision for this story, I was hit with a blast of inspiration. I have a new idea for the direction of this story, but if I take it in that direction, I would have to make this a two part story (two individual stories posted as one really long story) or maybe even as a trilogy. So my question is, what do you think would be better? Your choices are:**

**1. Stay with the original storyline**

**2. Diverge from the original story and make it really long**

**Please let me know what you think. And thank you for those of you who have had the patience to put up with me and my inexcusable slowness ****J**


	9. Eavesdropping and a twist!

Katara was determined to get to the bottom of this. After witnessing The Boulder go off with Jin, she jumped from her seat and ran down to the lower levels. She ran through the corridors, heading for the area she saw them walk into. Finally, she heard muffled voices up ahead, so she slowed down and calmed her breathing. Creeping forward, she silently approached the source of the voices. Finding a large pillared room, she quickly took cover behind one of the pillars and listened in on the conversation.

"Did the Boulder really have to forfeit the match?" She heard the Boulder whine. "Couldn't the Boulder have fought that Inukami guy? The Boulder could've taken him!"

Katara stopped breathing for a moment when she heard the voice responding. "I'm sorry old friend." Jin placed a hand on the Boulder's shoulder, "But you wouldn't have stood a chance. Besides, Inukami is mine."

The Boulder wasn't happy with it, but he silently nodded in agreement. Then he asked, "Why do you want this guy so badly though? The Boulder is sure that there are much tougher opponents out there to fight. Or is it the Water tribe princess that you're really after?" Katara choked on the air for a moment. "_**WHAT? That guy can't be serious!"**_She thought to herself, before noticing that she had made a slight noise when she choked. Not very loud, but just enough to catch the Boulder's ear.

"Someone's here!" he bellowed.

Jin smirked at his panicked friend. "No worries my friend. I've known she was here from the beginning. I was hoping she would listen and understand a bit before I put a stop to her eavesdropping." With that said, Jin clenched his fist and the icy pillar she was hiding behind wrapped itself around her. "This is why you shouldn't eavesdrop on a waterbender in a room made of ice." he chuckled.

His chuckle just made her furious. "Release me at once!" she boldly commanded, "If you do anything to me, not only will you be expelled from the tournament, but you'll be hunted down and killed by my father!"

Again chuckling, Jin brought his face level with hers and explained, "I could live with the first one, but I need your father to keep this tournament going, so as to not lose my prey."

Gritting her teeth, she looked into his…. blindfold, and growled in response, "I don't care what happens to your prey. I care about getting rid of the scum in my way and finding the one I actually love!"

Her words seemed to amuse him even more. "The avatar I take it?" He knew he was right by the barely suppressed blush that covered her face. "I suppose I could tell you where to find him, if you'd like. My price is simple, keep the tournament going, and don't stand between me and my prey. Do we have a deal?"

As she was about to ask him how he knew anything, he cut her off by sealing her mouth with a kiss! Stunned, she was powerless to form any kind of protest, and didn't return to her ration state of mind until he pulled away, leaving her breathless. All she could do is watch as he walked away, dragging the Boulder away, who was having a small nervous breakdown. The last thing she heard before they disappeared down a corridor was Jin's mischievous voice saying, "I'll take that as a yes."

**OKAY! I finally got back to the story! I'm really sorry for those of you who have been waiting all this time! I have no excuse for my lack of writings, but I must say: college sucks. Period. But I'm back! And I've had time now to actually sort of plan where this story is going. So, I leave you now to continue my writing of this story and I really hope that I havent lost all of you to other authors who actually post chapters when they say they will :P**


	10. Heartbroken and a Private Conversation

"I'm getting worried." Sokka was talking to Toph while they waited for Katara to get back. "What if something happened to Katara? What if that Jin guy did something to her?"

But Toph wasn't too worried. "Don't worry Snoozles, I'm sure she's just fine. She's a strong fighter, she can handle that guy if need be." Although she wasn't too sure of that last part, she still felt that Katara would be able to handle herself if need be. But Sokka still wasn't convinced.

"C'mon Toph, we're going to go check it out." With that said, he pulled her up by her arm and dragged her along as he headed for the corridor that Katara had disappeared into. Sokka still had to pull Toph along as he frantically searched for his sister. Toph, on the other hand, was inwardly smiling as she let him drag her after him. She liked making things difficult for him; it was fun to listen to him whine all the time. Her inward grin was just showing on her face, when both smiles were quickly extinguished. Shoving Sokka aside, she ran ahead of him into the open chamber in front of them.

"What was that for?" Sokka shouted down the hall. Not hearing a response, he ran after her into the chamber and what he saw instantly set his temper ablaze. He saw Toph kneeling next to Katara, holding her in a comforting embrace. Tears continued to stream down Katara's face as she sobbed into Toph's shoulder. Seeing his little sister in tears, on the floor, his brotherly rage kicked into gear.

"What happened Katara?" Sokka looked like he was about to pop a blood vessel. "It was that Jin guy wasn't it? Where is he? I'll teach him the meaning of -"

"No Sokka." Katara cut him off, though she spoke through choked sobs "Don't do anything to him. You couldn't anyway." Her words cut deep, but he knew that she was right. The best thing now would be to get Katara home and find out exactly what had happened and then go from there.

"Ok Katara." Sokka had managed to cool his head, "Let's just go home, for now."

Meanwhile, Jin and the Boulder were sitting in Jin's hotel room, discussing what had just happened. However, rather than a discussion, it was more of the Boulder having his meltdown over Jin kissing Katara.

"What were you thinking?", the Boulder bellowed, "What if she reports it to her father? You'll be thrown out of the competition and then what would happen to the plan? The Boulder doesn't want to see your efforts come to nothing!" Jin sat quietly, listening to the Boulder's continuous outbursts. He had been going on like this for almost an hour and Jin didn't seem to care one way or the other. Finally, though, he spoke.

"Have you gotten that out of your system yet? It's pointless to question my motives, you know why I am doing this, I don't feel the need to explain any further." With that, Jin turned his back to the Boulder, which only made him that much more frustrated.

"The Boulder doesn't understand you at all! The Boulder knows why you've entered the tournament, but cannot understand why you kissed her! You don't even love her!" This time it was the Boulder's words that frustrated Jin. Standing up to leave, Jin walked to the door and stopped as he opened it.

Turning to the Boulder he said, "No, I don't love her. But I will." With that final thought, Jin walked out of the room, leaving the Boulder to think about the events to come.

**Okay, The story moves onward! (sort of) I can feel it all coming together in my brain! Expect epic awesomeness!**


	11. Heartache and Stress Relief

That night, Katara lay in her bed, staring at the ceiling. She kept replaying the kiss in her mind, shaking off the occasional tear that threatened to fall. She

hated Jin. She hated how he had stolen that kiss from her. She hated how powerless she was to stop him from taking advantage of her. She even hated

herself, because for the briefest of moments, as his vile lips met her own, she didn't resist. Somewhere, deep inside herself, she somehow LIKED it. It

disgusted her to know that she had been captured, mocked, and violated; and she hadn't even tried to fight back. Playing it back in her mind over and over

again, she could think of a hundred different ways she could've broken free of the ice and given that jerk the beating he deserved. But there was something

else that bothered her even more. Despite her hatred and disgust, despite her self-loathing and regret, and despite every fiber of her being telling her it was

wrong; somehow it had felt right.

But she knew why she hesitated. She knew why she hadn't fought back like she should've. She even knew why she felt that she secretly enjoyed the kiss. It

was all for one simple reason: it felt familiar. When his lips touched hers, it didn't feel like the kiss of a mysterious stranger forcing himself on her, it felt… right.

When he kissed her, it felt like fireworks exploding inside her head. Like a blinding flash that enveloped her senses and left her, dazed and confused, and yet

wishing it would never end.

As she lay there, mulling these ideas around in her head, she came upon a thought that quickly turned her confusion into guilt. She thought so herself, **"I **

**haven't been kissed like that since…"**

_**Flashback**_

_**The setting sun cast a soft orange glow across the cityscape of Ba Sing Se, as Aang stood on the veranda of the Jasmine Dragon, looking out over the **_

_**beautiful city below. Katara quietly left the celebration inside the tea shop, and walked up beside the avatar; drinking in the beauty of the evening **_

_**around them. She smiled as their eyes met and a small blush warmed her cheeks. Staring into each other's eyes, words seemed unnecessary as **_

_**they silently recounted the numerous adventures that had brought them here together. Turning to each other completely, they embraced and held **_

_**each other for a moment, reveling in each other's presence. **_

_**Finally, breaking the embrace, they looked at each other once more. She smiled at him, admiring the sight of him in his robes; those worn only by **_

_**master airbenders. They suited him, and gave him a masterful air about him. And despite his powerful form, she knew that inside he was still the **_

_**same, wonderful Aang that she knew and loved with all her heart. **_

_**And while she was admiring him, he was busy admiring her even more. His heart melted as the waning sunlight danced in her cerulean blue eyes, **_

_**and made her beautiful features glow with a dazzling radiance. Her earth kingdom dress wasn't half bad either, though he knew she was **_

_**breathtaking in whatever she wore.**_

_**After a moment lost in thoughts of each other, they slowing pulled closer together, until they finally met in the middle, lips locking. They shared a **_

_**magical kiss that shook them both to their cores, and they never wanted it to end.**_

_**End of Flashback**_

The tears were falling freely now. Years of memories were flooding her mind and opening up 7 years of emotional wounds. She missed him. She missed the

avatar, HER avatar. All she wanted was for Aang to come back to her and make everything right again…

"**Aang!"**

She sat upright as she remembered Jin's 'deal'. He said he knew where Aang was. He knew! How could he possibly know?! Zuko had assured her that he had

used every resource he had, as firelord, and had searched every known corner of the known world to find Aang. But nothing was ever found. How could Jin

know where Aang was when even the firelord's best search parties couldn't find him?

"I can't deal with this right now." She muttered to herself, "I need to vent." And there was one place she knew that she could do that.

As long as she could remember, there was always one way she would blow off steam and she definitely needed to blow off some steam. Walking to the center

of the arena, she stopped and took in the sight around her. Standing in the open arena, the silence of the empty stadium drowned out the turbulent thoughts

that were keeping her awake. As the silence washed over her, she exhaled slowly and assumed a waterbending stance. Her legs set firmly apart, her arms

raised on both sides, and a small smirk on her face; she began.

Circling her arms, a layer of ice around her instantly became liquid and swirled around her. She stepped forward and what followed was almost indescribable.

In the glowing moonlight, anyone watching would see the form of a woman, dancing and twisting across the arena stage. As she moved, the water around her

moved with her, writhing and dancing, matching her move for move. Moving together, she and her waterbending danced in sync, becoming one breathtaking

being. But it wasn't just the beauty of her dance; any warrior watching would see that her movements were deadly, as much as they were graceful. Any part of

her dance could easily slice through an opponent, or just as easily deflect even the most powerful blows. It was truly a sight to behold.

Finally winding down, she released her bending letting the water fall in a circle around her. She was breathing hard and sweating slightly, but she definitely felt

better, as if some of her burden had been lifted from her shoulders. With a sigh of relief, she turned to walk back to her room, but then stopped. A dull clapping

echoed across the arena. Turning around, her blood ran cold when she saw him sitting in the bleachers, clapping with a grin plastered across his face. **"Jin!"**

**I'm back, and determined to finish this story! A big thank you to everyone who stuck around and waited for this next chapter. An even bigger thank you to Transmundane-Transmutation-95 for helping me get back into writing this story. I'm done with excuses and hiatuses, and I plan to get this story done quickly so that I can work on some other story ideas that have been picking at my brain for awhile now.**


	12. Secrets of the White Lotus

"Jin!" Katara's scream echoed throughout the empty coliseum. She glared menacingly at him and he stood, still clapping a slow rhythm.

"You're performance was stunning!" Jin called down to her, "with that level of skill, it's no wonder you're known as a master waterbender!" His condescending tone only served to fuel the anger she was feeling.

"What do you want Jin?" Katara's words were laced with an icy poison and the ice around her feet began to shift into liquid form, "What are you doing here?"

Jin began walking down the steps, towards the fighting ring where Katara waited. "I'm just here to see if we still had a deal. You're answer wasn't very clear the last time we talked." Katara's face instantly flushed red as she remembered yet again how their last encounter had ended. With an enraged yell, she thrust her hands forward and the ice around her feet flew through the air, forming a spike, heading straight for Jin's face.

While Katara was busy at the coliseum, Sokka had been having just as much trouble sleeping as she did. He was worried about his sister. After he had taken her home, she explained what had happened between her and Jin. When she got to the part about the kiss, Sokka could feel the blood vessels in his brain explode. But after an outraged outburst and a heated argument with his baby sister, he finally calmed down. And after another, smaller argument, he agreed that they should let Jin go for now, and wait to see what his next move would be. But even though he had agreed at the time, the decision still didn't sit right with him. He knew he had to do something to help his sister, but he also knew that there wasn't much he could do for her in this situation.

"Agh! Forget it!" he shot up off the bed, launching his pillow against the wall. He quickly changed into his warmer clothes, picked up his boomerang, and stalked out of his house. As he walked through the streets of the sleeping city he thought to himself, _**I can't do anything on my own right now. Maybe Pakku can help me think of something**_. He kept walking, counting side streets until he found the one he was looking for. Walking up to the third house down the street, he started pounding on the door, until it was quickly pulled open.

"Do you have any idea what time it is!?" the elderly man yelled in Sokka's face. He stood there with in a sleeping gown, holding a lit candle. Obviously, he didn't enjoy being woken up and strange hours of the night.

"I'm sorry Gramp Gramp, I just needed to-" but he was quickly cut off.

"What did I tell you about calling me that?! You can call me Pakku! None of this Gramp Gramp nonsense!" Pakku rubbed the sleep from his eyes and finally took a good look at his weary visitor. The look on Sokka's face instantly woke him up and softened his attitude toward the boy. With a sigh he said, "I'm sorry. Come in Sokka, you can tell me why you're here while a make some tea to warm us up." With a timid smile, Sokka walked in and sat at his Grandfather's table.

"I'm sorry to have woken you up, is Gran Gran still asleep?" Sokka asked quietly. Pakku smiled, brought the tea, and sat down at the table.

"No no, Kanna is still sleeping. That woman could sleep through a blizzard" Pakku chuckled as he handed Sokka his cup of tea. Then he continued, "But that's not what you came here to talk about is it?"

Sokka sighed, "Well have you been keeping up with this stupid tournament?"

Now it was Pakku's turn to sigh, "No, Kanna and I decided to stay out of the matter. We both feel that Hakoda is making a mistake by even thinking of this tournament."

"Well, that's something we can agree on." Sokka said with a grin. But that grin soon vanished as he explained the events of the tournament and the situation with Jin; although he didn't mention the kiss, no reason to give an old man a heart attack. Pakku sat quietly and listened, absorbing all the new information his grandson was feeding him. When he heard that Jin had offered info on the avatar's location, his eyes went wide with fear; something that didn't escape Sokka's attention. "Is something wrong?" he asked.

With a shudder, Pakku rose up from his chair and began walking towards the wall opposite of the table. "Sokka, do you remember anything about the organization I serve in?"

Sokka was obviously confused. "The White Lotus right? You're a master lotus along with Iroh, Bumi, and even my master Piandao."

Pakku paused and turned to look at him, "I'm impressed Sokka. You remember a lot about our secret society. Maybe a little too much..." Pakku's gaze turned sinister for a moment, sending chills down Sokka's spine. Suddenly Pakku's glare turned into a smile, "Just kidding!" and he laughed at his grandson's bewildered expression. Turning back to the wall, he continued, "Yes, the Order of the White Lotus is comprised of many powerful and wise benders, and nonbenders alike. However, one of our best gave something to me a few years ago, in preparation for this day." With a wave of his hand, part of the wall melted away, revealing a small hidden compartment. He reached in, pulled out a sealed scroll, and brought it back to the table.

Pakku sat down and his expression became serious. "Master Iroh himself gave this to me about four years ago. He told me that I was never to open this myself. He also said that one day; someone could appear, claiming to know what happened to the avatar."

Sokka sat there wide eyed, staring at his grandfather and the scroll, until he finally found his voice, "But Pakku, do you seriously believe that Aang is even still alive? I've never said this to Katara; but after seven years, I can't help but think he must be dead to not have returned to us. To her." His last two words had a tinge of sadness to them. But he was quickly knocked out of his sadness by his grandfather hitting him upside the head with the scroll.

"Idiot! Do you really believe that?" Pakku gave him a look that told that he was obviously missing something. "Sokka, think about it. If the avatar had died, he would've already been born into the next nation in the cycle?"

Sokka stopped rubbing his sore head for a moment to realize the truth in Pakku's words. "So Aang has to be alive then!" Sokka exclaimed.

Pakku grinned triumphantly, "Now you're catching on. The avatar is still alive somewhere in the world, and Iroh said that this scroll would be the key to finding him." Wide eyed again, Sokka began to reach for the scroll, only to have his hand smacked away with the scroll itself. "BUT!" Pakku stated, "Iroh also said that I could only reveal this scroll if the person's claims were considered serious, and that I could only reveal it to you or Katara." Then Pakku laid it on the table in front of him. "And now, I give it to you Sokka."

With shaking hands, Sokka picked up the scroll; turning it over in his hands, examining it. Although it had been given to Pakku only four years ago, it looked like it was easily over a hundred years old. The paper was aged and fragile, and it was sealed with a golden crest. Upon examining the crest, he saw that it had a symbol of an owl imprinted into the gold.

"I know I've seen this symbol… Somewhere…" Sokka was racking his brain, trying to remember why this crest looked so familiar.

Pakku smirked, "Well Sokka, if the stories you've told me are true, then yes you should know this crest very well." After a few more moments of Sokka's confused expression, Pakku continued, "It should look familiar, because it's the symbol of the legendary library of Wan Shi Tong."

With a gasp, the memories quickly came back to Sokka. All the memories. "But Pakku, Wan Shi Tong sank him library into the desert. Aang said he even took it back to the Spirit World. If this is from the library, then that means…"

"Yes Sokka," Pakku looked him dead in the eye, "This scroll comes straight from the Spirit World."

The coliseum was in shambles. Stairs were caved in, the bleachers were smashed apart, and even the foundation was cracked right down the middle. The fighting ring was even worse, there wasn't an inch of ice that hadn't been cracked or destroyed. Standing in the middle of the wreckage was Jin, sweating slightly despite the cold. His clothes had seen better days; they were torn and tattered with authentic battle damage; although he was otherwise undamaged. On one knee in front of him was Katara, breathing heavily and equally torn up. However she had taken a bit of damage from their fight, and was trying to suppress the pain shooting through her abdomen. She had one hand holding her left side, a small amount of blood trickling through her fingers.

She looked up at Jin, who was looking down at her, despite the blindfold. He smirked and asked her, "So, are you done with your little tantrum? Do you feel a little better now?" His words, still condescending, send fire through her veins. Struggling for balance, she stood up as straight as she could, still holding her side.

"Why are you doing this? Why do you insist on tormenting me? Just tell me where Aang is so I can end this stupid contest now?" She spat her words at him.

Shaking his head he replied, "I can't do that just yet. I need this tournament to continue for my own reasons. You'll get your avatar, after I get my prey." With that he took a step forward, "Now let me take a look at your wound, I can't have you injured for my victory tomorrow." He reached out to her, only for her to step back and slap his hand away.

"Don't touch me!" She screamed these words, afraid of what he might do to her.

But he pressed forward, "Please, just let me heal you." He grabbed her wrist and pulled her towards him, his other hand reaching down towards her side. However, she hadn't lost all of her fighting spirit yet. Pulling back as hard as she could, she swung her free hand up, clawing at his face. Surprised by her sudden momentum, he lost his balance and they both went tumbling to the ground. Landing solidly on her back, she hit her head on the ice and felt her head rattle, as she felt him land squarely on top of her.

After a moment of hesitation, she slowly opened her eyes, her vision blurry at first. The first thing she noticed was the feeling of something cold in her hand. Turning her head a bit, she looked at it and saw that she held Jin's blindfold; ripped away in the fall. Turning her head back, her vision cleared as she looked up at the man pulling himself off of her. On his hands and knees, he shook his head for a moment and unconsciously opened his left eye. And for a brief moment, Katara's sapphire blue eyes looked directly into his stormy gray eye.

_**Gray…**_ Was her last thought before slipping out of consciousness.

**Ok…. So this is awkward. So, I was reading a fanfic and I was really getting into it. Suddenly the chapters cut off and when I checked the last update date it was like 2 years ago. So I said to myself, "What kind of jerk leaves such a good story unfinished like that?! How could they just stop… writing… oh crap…" Soooooo…. Here I am again :D I think I'll make sure not to go on any extended… "hiatuses" anymore. So whether or not I still have anyone actually reading this, I'm at least going to finish it for my own satisfaction. ****J**


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